US team arrives to extract warship
Inaccurate navigation data blamed
Amid concerns over a potential environmental disaster, an assessment team from the United States Navy has arrived in Palawan to work on the extraction of a US warship that ran aground at the protected Tubbataha Reef in the Sulu Sea last week.
Lt. Commander Ralph Kris Hooper, public affairs officer of the US 7th Fleet, said yesterday that the extraction team includes engineers, divers and other essential personnel.
Hooper said the team had arrived in the area where the Navy Avenger-class USS
Guardian (MCM 5) got stuck last Thursday, to survey the site and develop a plan to extract the ship with as little environmental impact as possible.
“The weather conditions are challenging but the assessment is ongoing,” Hooper said in an email to The STAR.
Latest reports said huge waves had caused the USS
Guardian to move from its original position, complicating extraction efforts.
The change in the ship’s position was feared to have caused more damage to the corals.
Two special tugboats, believed to be civilian, arrived on Saturday in the area to help in the extraction of the minesweeper.
Lt. Cmdr. Gregory Favic, spokesman for the Philippine Navy (PN), said the two tugboats came from Subic and
were commissioned by the US. He could not provide details as to how the ship would be extracted.
“Right now three of our ships Ð BRP Ismael Lomibao, BRP Rizal and BRP Mangyan Ð are there to provide assistance to the distressed US Navy vessel,” he said.
Favic said a team of American divers and Coast Guard personnel carrying oil spill boom equipment had arrived in the area. He said no oil spill has been monitored so far.
Earlier, the US Navy 7th Fleet, under whose command the USS Guardian falls, said it would send an assessment team to work on the extraction of the ship.
Swift sanction after probe
The Philippine government wants the US warship extricated immediately and without further environmental damage. The government also wants sanctions for possible violation of environmental and maritime laws to be enforced swiftly after an investigation.
The Department of National Defense (DND) said it is ready to cooperate with the Senate or any agency that would conduct an inquiry into the maritime accident involving the 1,300-ton, 68-meter-long Guardian.
“The department will cooperate in things that will help us resolve and clarify issues,” DND spokesman Peter Galvez told The STAR yesterday.
Galvez said security officials are ready to answer the questions of lawmakers who would look into the incident.
He explained that whenever a US ship plans to make a port call in the country, the US embassy forwards a request for passage to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), which refers the request to the DND for comment.
“We will then refer it to the Navy and Air Force so they will be informed that a ship will conduct a visit. Once we get their comments, the request will go back to the DFA,” Galvez said.
He said the DFA issues the final clearance after the DND and the military recommend favorable action on the request.
Galvez said the Guardian was cleared for a port visit.
“It was recommended for favorable action since it only involved routine ship replenishment. It was given clearance on our part,” Galvez said.
Hooper said a US Navy investigation to assess the circumstances surrounding the Guardian’s grounding would include information on faulty navigation chart data that might have misplaced the location of Tubbataha Reef.
“While we shouldn’t jump to any conclusions, preliminary findings of a review on Digital Nautical Charts (DNC) contain inaccurate navigation data and may have been a factor in GuardianÕs grounding,” he said.
He gave assurance that the cause of the incident would be thoroughly investigated, as he pointed out that it would be premature to speculate about damages or liability at this time.
The Guardian had just completed a port call in Subic and was en route to Indonesia and Timor- Leste to participate in a training exercise when it ran aground at Tubbataha Reef, a World Heritage Site that covers an area of 130,028 hectares.
Lt. Frederick Martin, US Navy 7th Fleet spokesman, gave assurance that the cause of the incident would be thoroughly investigated and a claim for damages would be reviewed if filed.
“It would be premature to speculate about damages and liability at this time. Should a claim for damages be filed, it will be reviewed in accordance with established procedures,” Martin said in an email to The STAR.
Explain presence
of US warship
Sen. Francis Escudero demanded answers from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on why the warship is here.
Sen. Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate committee on foreign relations, wants the Presidential Commission on the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFACOM) and the Philippine Coast Guard to explain how the US ship was allowed to venture into the marine sanctuary despite the park being considered a “no navigation area.”
Escudero hinted that his committee might launch a probe into the incident.
The Coast Guard station in Tubbataha Reef said it radioed the GuardianÕs unauthorized entry and that it has caused damage to the reef.
DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez could not confirm whether the warship’s entry was authorized or not.
Former senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, author of the 2009 law establishing the Tubbataha Reef National Park as a marine protected area, expects the US military “to readily accept full responsibility” for the damage caused by the Guardian. He said the US should also apologize for the incident.
Opposition lawmaker and Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles has urged Congress to revisit and fine-tune the VFA in the wake of the incident.
Palawan Gov. Abraham Mitra, for his part, called for a review of the policy granting access to the country’s navigational routes and sea lanes.
He believes the rehabilitation of the reef Ð the source of livelihood of many fishermen – is more important than the grounded ship.
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has condemned what it called the “incursion” of the US military forces into the Tubbataha Reef.
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